Microdosing with Amanita Muscaria: Creativity, Healing, and Recovery with the Sacred Mushroom

By Baba Masha and James Fadiman

• Shows how Amanita microdoses offered help and healing for a broad range of conditions, including hormonal dysfunction, allergies, gingivitis, heartburn, eczema, psoriasis, depression, epilepsy, hypertension, insomnia, and migraine

• Reveals how Amanita microdoses are effective for pain relief and for interrupting addictions to alcohol, opiates, nicotine, caffeine, and other narcotics

• Details how to safely identify, prepare, and preserve Amanita muscaria, including recipes for tincture, tea, oil, and ointment as well as proper microdose amounts

Exploring the results of the first international study on the medicinal effects of microdosing with Amanita muscaria, the psychoactive fly agaric mushroom, Baba Masha, M.D., documents how more than 3,000 volunteers experienced positive outcomes for a broad range of health conditions as well as enhanced creativity and sports performance. Masha discovered that Amanita microdoses offered help and healing for hormonal dysfunction, low libido, allergies, asthma, swelling, gingivitis, nail fungus, digestive issues, and skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis as well as recovery from stroke and cardiac arrest. She found beneficial effects on depression, epilepsy, hypertension, insomnia, and low appetite and shows how Amanita microdoses are quite effective for pain relief, including in cases of rheumatoid arthritis, menstrual pain, and migraine.

The author also reveals how Amanita microdoses can interrupt addictions to alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, opiates, and other narcotics. The author details how to safely identify, harvest, prepare, and preserve Amanita muscaria, and she includes recipes for tincture, tea, oil, and ointment as well as proper microdose amounts. She shares more than 780 personal Amanita microdose reports from study participants, detailing the positive, negative, and neutral effects they experienced, and she also shares some Amanita large-dose trip reports, cautioning against this practice because of the mushroom’s strong dissociative properties, including amnesia.

Revealing the vast healing potential of this ancient mushroom ally, Masha’s study shows not only how Amanita can help with many health conditions but also how it activates the ability to feel the value and the significance of your own life experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
• Release date: Aug 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781644115060

Baba Masha

Baba Masha, M.D., is a pediatrician and OB/GYN with a doctorate in medicine and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. She has hosted the Radio Psychedelix podcast, in Russian, since 2013. She lives in northern California.

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CHAPTER 3

Amanita muscaria Microdose General Information

I designed a project questionnaire that contains 107 detailed questions with optional answers. The questionnaire covers over seventy health conditions, negative effects, various drug addictions, and sport fighters’ performance outcomes.

Questions were added as the project unfolded and new information arrived. When new effects were identified, the list of questions was immediately updated for participant response. In this regard, the number of responses on different issues varies.

Participants’ General Information

Of those who provided this information, most participants (91%) were 18–50 years old (1,501 of 1,642). No detailed breakdown by age was made as that was not important in this study. Most of the project participants (77%) were men (758 of 983), with females making up only 19% (182) (see fig. 1 and fig. 2).*3

Fig. 1. Participants’ ages (total 1,642)

Fig. 2. Participants’ genders (total 983)

Psychedelic experiences prior to an AM microdose course are reflected in figure 3. About 53% (266 of 499) of the participants had prior psychedelic experiences, 40% (197) did not, and 7% (36) reported psychedelic experiences only with Amanita muscaria. Participants’ geographic locations are presented in figure 4 (p. 30). Eastern Europe had 47% (881 of 1,872), the European Union had 10% (180), Asia had 20% (378), North America had 8% (152), South America had 2% (45), and 13% (236) responded as other.

Fig. 3. Participants’ psychedelic experiences (total 499)

Fig. 4. Participants’ geographical location (total 1,872)

Sources and Species of Amanita muscaria

Amanita muscaria mushrooms were collected and prepared personally by 46% (508 of 1,102) of users. Purchase of a reliable quality of Amanita muscaria was reported by 25% (275); 25% of participants (279) reported purchasing Amanita muscaria of unknown quality; and 4% (40) were unsure of the AM source (see fig. 5).

This project is based on the use of Amanita muscaria, which is familiar to us from the illustrations in children’s fairy tales. Most participants (94%, 567 of 604) used the Amanita muscaria species for AM microdosing consumption. Both Amanita muscaria and Amanita pantherina species were used in microdosing in 5% (30) of participants. Only 1% (7) used Amanita pantherina (see fig. 6). Amanita pantherina requires its own investigation due to its stronger effect and different chemical compounds.

Fig. 5. Sources of Amanita muscaria (total 1,102)

Fig. 6. Amanita species used for AM microdosing (total 604)

Later in the project development, at the request of participants, two questions were added to compare the positive effects during AM microdose course with purchased Amanita muscaria and mushrooms that were collected personally (table 1). There were positive effects with purchased AM (86%, 178 of 208); there were positive effects with personally picked AM (90%, 166 of 185). There were no effects with purchased AM (11%, 23) and no effects with personally collected (8%, 15), respectively. There were negative effects for 3% (7) and 2% (4) with purchased and personally collected AM respectively.

Preparation and Procurement Methods

AM preparation is still ardently discussed in the support chats. The question remains open since the essence of the controversy boils down to the decarboxylation of ibotenic acid to muscimol. The drying process increases decarboxylation, and the final dried form provides stronger psychoactive effects. There is an opinion among participants that procuring the fungus and storing it for two to three months in a cool, dark place without access to air (curing process) stimulates the decarboxylation of ibotenic acid to muscimol. A lower level of nausea was reported by some participants with use of cured mushrooms.

However, a study led by K. Tsunoda titled "Change in Ibotenic Acid and Muscimol Contents in Amanita muscaria during Drying, Storing or Cooking" shows a correlation between the concentration of ibotenic acid and muscimol depending on different procuring and storage methods.¹ This study also shows no change of concentration in ibotenic acid and muscimol during ninety days of storage. The comparative spectrographic method was used in this study.

The question remains open. There are positive medicinal effects of dried AM (fresh dried or cured). There are also positive medicinal effects of using Amanita muscaria alcohol tincture in which decarboxylation of ibotenic acid does not occur. There is an obvious difference in the individual effects of fresh-dried and cured AM used for microdosing according to the survey. The difference was also confirmed by reports of several families using the same AM prepared different ways for microdosing. The next step in our research is to measure the ratio of ibotenic acid and muscimol with liquid chromatography and mass spectrometer in the samples of Amanita muscaria prepared in different ways.

Amanita muscaria Microdose Forms

Figure 7 reflects the opinions of users as to the most popular forms of AM microdose reception—dried mushroom, powder, tea form, and alcohol tincture. The preferred form of AM microdose by 38% of participants was a powder (283 of 740); dried AM cap pieces was preferred by 36% (267). The tea form was less popular, favored by 22% (166), and the consumption of Amanita muscaria alcohol tincture was the least preferred at only 3% (24).

Figure 8 shows participants’ choices of the Amanita muscaria procurement form—fresh dried AM was used by 66% of participants (465 of 704), cured AM by 25% (177), alcohol tincture by 6% (41), and raw by 3% (21).

Fig. 7. Forms of AM microdose consumption (total 740)

Fig. 8. Methods of AM microdose preparation (total 704)

After publishing the report of AM microdose effects for the first year of our project in Russia in June 2020, there were more questions proposed by participants for public discussion. Two more questions were added to the questionnaire for further investigation. It was proposed to compare discomfort (light nausea) and positive effects of fresh dried and cured methods of Amanita muscaria preparation. The results are reflected in figures 9 and 10.

The majority (57%, 109 of 192) of AM microdosers did not have any discomfort with either preparation method of AM. Discomfort with fresh dried AM was reported by 34% (66) of participants. Discomfort with any form was reported by 4% (8), and cured AM by 5% (9) (see fig. 9, below).

Fig. 9. Discomfort and AM curing methods (total 192)

Figure 10 shows that positive effects were higher with fresh dried Amanita muscaria compared to cured mushrooms in 41% (83 of 202) and 26% (53) of participants respectively. Positive effects with both forms of Amanita muscaria preparation were confirmed by 33% (66) participants.

Fig. 10. Positive effects and AM curing methods (total 202)

Overall Opinion on Amanita muscaria Microdose Intake

Stability

The presence of various illnesses and their severity was not taken into account when assessing AM microdose intake. Surprisingly, a preliminary general evaluation of the results showed highly positive and stable effects. The overall rating of the AM microdose course was evaluated positively in 92% (938 of 1,018) of the cases (see fig. 11). A negative outcome after the AM microdose course was expressed by 2% (19) of users. An outcome with no results was noted in 6% (61).

Fig. 11. AM microdose overall opinion (total 1,018)

Dependency

Stable effects of AM microdosing were reported by 74% (163 of 219) of participants (see fig. 12). The effects lasting only during reception, with no dependency, was reported by 21% (46). We did not investigate the reason for the return to the previous state. It could be the presence and severity of illness, the quality of the Amanita muscaria, the duration of the intake, or the AM microdosage. Dependency and an unstable condition without AM microdosing were reported by 5% (10) of the participants. Due to low indicators, an investigation of preexisting body and mind health in that group was not performed.

Fig. 12. AM microdose stability, dependency (total 219)

Withdrawal

Withdrawal symptoms after an AM microdose course were absent in 74% (214 of 291) of the participants (see fig. 13). According to reports, withdrawal was determined as unbalanced mood in 17% (51), insomnia in 6% (17), and other in 3% (9) of participants.

Fig. 13. Withdrawal after AM microdose course (total 291)

Through joint efforts in the discussion chats, it was determined that the cause of a withdrawal syndrome was usually abuse and violation of the optimal AM microdosage. Figure 14 shows the condition after the AM microdose course. About 75% (184 of 245) of participants described their condition after an AM microdose course as great. The condition returned to the previous in 22% (54), and 3% (7) of participants reported the condition was worse than before the Amanita muscaria microdose course.

Fig. 14. Condition after AM microdose course (total 245)

Optimal Amanita muscaria Microdose Parameters

AM weight cannot be standardized. Each user will have his or her own individual response to the same weight of the same fungus. Individual sensitivity is the most important criterion, which has been proved by the thousands of reviews submitted.

Professor James Fadiman, who has been studying the effects of psilocybin mushrooms for a long time, proposed an effective method for individual calibration of the fungus in The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide.² I decided to use Professor Fadiman’s method for calibration of individual microdose weight, and it worked perfectly for Amanita muscaria. The weight of AM cannot be determined per kilogram of the user’s weight or fit into a common conditional unit that is right for everyone.

Subsequent findings are based on information from two chat support room discussions on this topic, personal contacts with participants, feedback, and responses on the proposed questionnaire.

The optimal individual AM microdose is the weight of the dried fungus chosen empirically. With a properly selected weight, there are no changes in perception, consciousness, or behavior. The occurrence of euphoria, hysterical laughter, uncontrolled behavior, hallucinations, fractals, dizziness, drowsiness, sudden weakness, apathy, and aggression are signs of an incorrectly selected

Reviews for Microdosing with Amanita Muscaria

[Aaron · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent book, presents practical protocols and clear data distilled from hundreds of real-life experiences with this unusual, misunderstood, and incredibly helpful mushroom.